Words To Encourage

How to offer friendly advice to other ferret owners.

When you love creatures as playful, energetic and beautiful as ferrets, you start to see them as children, and like any loving parent, it is hard not to step in when you see a ferret in a bad situation. But like the parents of children everywhere, we have to be aware of when our advice is useful and welcome, and when it is an intrusion — when it is a matter of life or death, and when it is simply a matter of opinion.

Noah Daniels ran into a situation where he saw ferrets in a pet store that had clumping litter in their litter box. He knew this was potentially dangerous for ferrets. “I spoke to a manager and explained the situation, and the manager was grateful. When I checked the following week, the ferrets were on wood pellets instead, to my relief!” Daniels said. He has owned six ferrets over the last 12 years. It may seem obvious in hindsight that speaking up was the right thing for him to do, but it can be very hard, in the moment, to decide whether you should step in or stay out of it.

Maybe your friend plays rougher with her ferrets than you would ever dare, but they seem happy and healthy and they love every minute. On the other hand, maybe you know a man who leaves his ferrets in an uncooled house alone all day, even during the peak of the summer. Are they one heat wave away from death? Do you need to say something, or is it better to keep mum?

For the full article, pick up the 2012 issue of Ferrets USA or click here to buy the issue.